SEYMOUR, Ind. (WDRB) -- Had it not been for the smoke alarm, Brian Phillips might not be able to recount how he escaped the fire at his Seymour home just two weeks ago.
“I’m lucky to be here I guess, you know," he said.
But even with the alarm, the fire that tore through his home off South O’Brien Street was almost deadly, because his nephew couldn’t get out at first.
“We thought he was already gone and then, a few minutes later, here he is coming out the window and jumps out the window with his feet hanging from the window and cut his foot a couple times," he said. "Got about 10 stitches in it plus a burn on his hand and a burn on his nose."
Damage from a suspicious fire in Seymour, Ind. (WDRB Photo)
At first, he was told an accident caused the blaze, but now there are new questions and suspicions all over the neighborhood.
“Something ain’t adding up," Phillips said Tuesday.
He makes that assessment because the fire at his home wasn’t the only one in Seymour recently.
Damage from a suspicious fire in Seymour, Ind. (WDRB Photo)
Just blocks away, a garage was burned to the ground, nearby another home was badly burned, and a short walk away, another home was hit too. Chief Brad Lucas with the Seymour Fire Department said there have been seven of them in the past two weeks.
“Starting last Thursday, we had this fire and then one each day after that," he said.
Investigators advertise a reward after a string of suspicious fires in Seymour, Ind. (WDRB Photo)
Lucas can’t yet say arson, but he’s brought state arson investigators in to take a look, and they’re now offering up to a $5,000 reward for info that leads them to a conviction, if there’s one to be made.
“Well, obviously, they can do it again if we can’t catch them," Lucas said.
Phillips hopes whoever knows something will say something before it’s too late.
Damage from a suspicious fire in Seymour, Ind. (WDRB Photo)
“Because they can burn people up in them houses, you know what I’m saying?” he said.
You can reach investigators with the International Association of Arson Investigators in Indianapolis at 1-800-382-4628. Lucas said you can also contact both the fire department and Seymour Police Department with tips.
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